DOTA 2 will be free-to-play “with a twist”

Newell says Valve is figuring out a way to value contributions from the community

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell announced on the Seven Day Cooldown podcast that DOTA 2 would be a free-to-play IP “with a twist.”

Newell talked about DOTA 2, a direct sequel to the Defense of the Ancients: Warcraft III mod and its unique plan, saying, “It’s going to be free-to-play – it’ll have some twists, but that’s the easiest way for people to think about it.”

While not revealing any specific details about the twist, Newell continued, “The issue that we’re struggling with quite a bit is something I’ve kind of talked about before, which is how do you properly value people’s contributions to a community?”

Hinting at a system that might be based on a sort of ranking system, he explained further, “We’re trying to figure out ways so that people who are more valuable to everybody else [are] recognized and accommodated. We all know people where, if they’re playing, we want to play, and there are other people where, if they’re playing, we would [rather] be on the other side of the planet.”

Given the unique format of the model, Newell admitted that he couldn’t really compare it to any existing F2P game.

For now consumers will have to wait for Newell, or someone else from Valve, to explain this new model in detail. However, the developer is currently in a legal dispute with Blizzard over the use of the DOTA name and who should own the trademark. It is still unknown whether or not the Half-Life developer will be able to continue to call their game DOTA 2.

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So from what I understand, it sounds like players who are dicks will have to pay?

I’m sure that it isn’t quite so black and white, but would that be the day.

http://www.facebook.com/seandknight Sean Knight

I remember Newell talking about this system a couple years back. At the time he talked about a community ranking system where players could rank other people in a positive or negative manner. The higher your positive ranking, the more benefits you would get such as cheaper games and DLC. Whereas those with a negative ranking would be charged more for their games.

It was an interesting idea and it seems that DOTA 2 will use a more evolved version of it. At least that is what my guess is.

http://twitter.com/Shoch123 Kevin

Problem with every MOBA is the community. You get flack from all sides because if you can’t get a certain kill, you’re called unskilled and will be ranked as so. It’s going to be quite a job trying to figure what good comments are and what aren’t.

http://www.facebook.com/seandknight Sean Knight

Absolutely. This is the main issue which Valve is most likely dealing with and why such a system hasn’t been implemented yet. Definitely going to be an interesting thing to see in action and how Valve finally approaches it.

http://twitter.com/Shoch123 Kevin

Can we get a dollar fee for every time charged for every time you leave? It’s quite bad when you lose someone very important to the team.

http://www.facebook.com/seandknight Sean Knight

I love this idea. I hate it when people ragequit or leave the game before it finishes. They need to grow up and finish the game. Hell, there have been many times where my team has made a comeback and won the game even though we were doing poorly for most of the round.

http://twitter.com/callmeShane Shane Tuyor

Not sure what to think. I’m still waiting on the Starcraft 2 DOTA.

http://www.facebook.com/seandknight Sean Knight

Personally I’m not too interested in the SCII DOTA. It has been changed so much that it isn’t really a DOTA game but another MOBA game that is just using the DOTA brand to sell it.